Grim

About the Authors

Rachel Hawkins was born in Virginia and raised in Alabama. This means she uses words like y’all and fixin’ a lot, and considers anything under 60 degrees to be borderline Arctic. Before deciding to write books about kissing and fire (and sometimes kissing while on fire), Rachel taught high school English for three years, and is still capable of teaching you The Canterbury Tales if you’re into that kind of thing. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Hex Hall series.

Jeri Smith-Ready has been writing fiction since the night she rescued a trapped fox in the wooded hills of central Maryland. The fox turned out to be a magic muse—the sparkly hat and vest should’ve tipped Jeri off—inspiring eleven published novels so far, including RT Reviewers’ Choice–winning fantasy Eyes of Crow, as well as the PRISM Award–winning Wicked Game and Shade. Her next novel, This Side of Salvation, a contemporary YA story about a boy whose parents disappear the night they believe the Rapture will happen, will be out in April 2014. Jeri lives with her husband and two cats in a house made of tea and chocolate—or so it seems sometimes. When not writing, she can be found, well, thinking about writing, or on Twitter. Find her on the web at www.jerismithready.com, or on Twitter, @jsmithready.

Malinda Lo is the author of several young-adult novels, including most recently the sci-fi duology Adaptation and Inheritance. Her first novel, Ash, a retelling of Cinderella with a lesbian twist, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award and the Lambda Literary Award. Her novel Huntress was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda lives in Northern California with her partner and their dog. Her website is www.malindalo.com.

Jon Skovron has been an actor, musician, lifeguard, Broadway theater ticket seller, warehouse grunt, technical writer and web developer. He has nine fingers, dislikes sweets and possesses a number of charming flaws. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and after traveling around awhile, he has settled, somewhat haphazardly, in the Washington, D.C., area, where he and his two sons can regularly be seen not fitting into the general government scene. Visit him at www.jonskovron.com.

Saundra Mitchell has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture-deliverer and a layout waxer. She’s dodged trains, endured basic training and hitchhiked from Montana to California. She teaches herself languages, raises children and makes paper for fun. She is the author of Shadowed Summer, The Vespertine trilogy and Mistwalker, and the editor of Defy the Dark. She always picks truth; dare is too easy. Visit her online at www.saundramitchell.com.

Ellen Hopkins is a poet and an award-winning author of ten New York Times bestselling young-adult novels in verse, plus two adult verse novels. She lives in Carson City, Nevada, where she has founded Ventana Sierra, a nonprofit housing and resource initiative for youth in need.

Tessa Gratton has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. She was too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for someone to teach her magic. After traveling the world with her military family, she acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in gender studies, and then settled down in Kansas with her partner, her cats and her mutant dog. She is the author of the Blood Journals series and the United States of Asgard series, both from Random House Children’s Books. Visit her at www.tessagratton.com.

Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series, was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine, she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all-time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyperactive papillon.

Sonia Gensler is the author of The Revenant and The Dark Between. She grew up in a small Tennessee town and spent her early adulthood collecting impractical degrees from various Midwestern universities. A former high school English teacher, Sonia now writes full-time in Oklahoma and spends her summers in England.

Shaun David Hutchinson is the author of The Deathday Letter, fml and the forthcoming The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley. He lives in South Florida with his partner and dog, and watches way too much Doctor Who.

Kimberly Derting first fell in love with writing when she signed up for journalism as her seventh-grade elective. She still lives in the Pacific Northwest, which is the ideal place to be writing anything dark or creepy…a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children, who serve as an endless source of inspiration for her writing. She is the author of the Body Finder series, the Pledge trilogy and the Taking trilogy.

Christine Johnson grew up in, moved away from and finally came home to Indianapolis, Indiana. While she was in the “away” part of that adventure, she lived in Chicago, Illinois, where she attended DePaul University and majored in political science. She now lives in an old house in an old neighborhood with her kids and way too many books. Find her on the web at www.christinejohnsonbooks.com and on Twitter, @cjohnsonbooks.

Claudia Gray is the pseudonym of New Orleans–based writer Amy Vincent. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Evernight series and the Spellcaster trilogy. Her enthusiasms include thrift stores, pugs, classic movies and travel. Visit her website at www.claudiagray.com.

Myra McEntire, author of the Hourglass books,­knows the words to every R & B hit of the past decade, but since she lives in Nashville, the country music capital of America, her lyrical talents go sadly unappreciated. She’s chosen, instead, to channel her “mad word skills” into creating stories. She’s an avid Doctor Who fan and will argue passionately about which incarnation is the best.

Sarah Rees Brennan is the author of the Demon’s Lexicon trilogy, the first book of which was an ALA Top Ten Best Book of 2009, and the coauthor of Team Human with Justine Larbalestier. Her newest series is the Lynburn Legacy, a romantic Gothic mystery about a girl who discovers her imaginary friend is a real boy. Unspoken is an ALA Best Book 2013 and on the TAYSHAS list, and the sequel, Untold, was just released in September 2013. Sarah writes from her homeland of Ireland but likes to travel the world collecting inspiration.

Amanda Hocking is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Trylle trilogy and six additional self-published novels. After selling over a million copies of her books, primarily in ebook format, she is widely considered an exemplar of self-publishing success in the digital age.

Jackson Pearce lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with a slightly cross-eyed cat and a lot of secondhand furniture. She is the author of many books for young adults, including a series of retold fairy tales, starting with Sisters Red and concluding with Cold Spell. Visit her online at www.jacksonpearce.com.